Candy Cane Alphabet Blog Hop (December SOTM!)

Happy December 1st!
I was supposed to be participating 
in this Blog Hop tonight, BUT due to 
unexpected technical difficulties
my post didn't go live at 6pm
when it was supposed to and I was
(understandably) skipped.

I didn't want to miss out on all the fun
though, so I'm sharing my artwork 
using this stamp set here anyway,
AND...as a bonus, you can
use the link below to check out
the Blog Hop next and be inspired by 
all of the beautiful artwork created by
many of my CTMH consultant friends!

Today I'm sharing a standard-size card I created
featuring the Hello Pumpkin papers! Yes...
those candy cane stripes can work to create so
much more than just Christmas-themed projects!

AND...How much do we LOVE that 
Sugarplum Glitter Paper?!!

Now, please use THIS LINK to
join in on the December Stamp of the
Month Blog Hop and enjoy more creations
with this oh-so-versatile stamp set! 

July Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

THANK YOU for stopping by to enjoy our
July Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

featuring this month's SOTM: 

Circus Alphabet S1406

If you've just arrived here from KATHLEEN's BLOG,
then you are on the correct path.

This month I'm sharing the gift tags I made using

this stamp set that I attached on the gifts I gave to

my team members and room mates at the annual

Close to my Heart Convention in Anaheim (Disneyland!)

that we just returned home from!

Seven of my fabulous team members,

the "Friends Forever Stampers"

were able to attend with me and we had so much fun!!!

Needless to say, we are all looking forward to

attending again next year, especially since

it will be so close to home (Disneyland again!!)
and it'll stay affordable for those
of us who are locals to go again!

Please come back to visit my blog every week this month as I will continue to share more photos of all of our Convention fun and artistic adventures!

For now, I hope you will enjoy my creations:

I created 7 for my team members, 1 for a sideline (sister consultant) and 2 for my uplines:

The contents of each gift bag:

The image I cut from our Artbooking Cricut Cartridge to make the gift tags:

Finally, here are all of the stamp images included in the set:

Now you can continue with the hop and be inspired
by more creative ideas using this stamp set by visiting
DANA's BLOG next! Enjoy the hop!!

June 1 and 2 Card Classes!!

You are invited to join me for my monthly card classes coming up on June 1st and 2nd (Friday 9am-11am and/or 6:30pm-8:30pm AND Saturday 1pm-3pm and/or 6:30pm-8:30pm. Join us on Friday morning, Friday evening, Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening, or even multiple times (space permitting) if you want even more time to create with us!

Let me show you how to create a variety of 3 different hand-made greeting cards using the latest NEW stamps, papers, techniques, embellishments, and our Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge that cuts paper to perfectly fit the images we'll be stamping on them! You get to choose how many of each card you make!

3 cards for $5 or 6 cards for $10 (when you bring your own adhesive)

3 cards for $6 or 6 cards for $12 (when you use my adhesive)
 

Standard-size card (above) featuring the Footloose papers (creme brulee B&T background), A Typeface A1117 stamp set, Blue Ribbon C1464 stamp set, and Polka Dot Alphabet D1469 stamp set.

Same standard-size card shown before, but with RED and GOLD Barstow High School Aztec colors!! (You get to choose what colors you want the card you make to be; choose from blue, purple, orange, etc...).

 

Standard-size card (above) featuring the June Stamp of the Month - Life is Tweet S1206 with the Footloose papers X7151B (you choose the sentiment you use, so this could be a birthday or an anniversary card).

 

Standard-size card (above) featuring the Victory papers with the Victory Workshop-on-the-Go stamp set (this masculine card could be given for Father's Day and/or to show appreciation for any military service person, police officer, firefighter, etc...). 

Space is limited to just 6 guests per time-slot, so please RSVP ASAP to reserve your spot(s) now! I hope you can join us for the creativity and fun!

Holiday Magic (October SOTM) Blog Hop!!

WELCOME to my blog and thank you for joining us for our October Stamp of the Month blog hop!! If you've just joined me from Haley's Blog,
then you are the right path!

First up, is a 3.5"x8" card design inspired by Wishes - Right Design (p. 42). This card features the Roxie paper pack X7140B and all it's colors (Black, Colonial White, Desert Sand, Smoothie, and Tulip), plus I added New England Ivy for stamping the tree and sponged all of the card elements with Cocoa ink. The banner is inspired by the banner shown on the Typeset layout on the front of our current Idea book! Each pennant was created by stamping the ribbon tail from the "ribbon award" stamp in the Blue Ribbon C1464 stamp set shown on page 17 with Desert Sand ink and cutting each one out by hand (something I haven't done much of at all since I started using our Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge a few months ago, lol)! The letters are stamped with the A Typeface A1117 stamp set (August 2011 promotion) in black ink. The tree is topped with a Bling Assortment Z1466 button with Black Waxy Flax Z1089 tied through it. The banner hangs from Black Hemp Z282.

By the way, all of our blog hop artwork today features the October SOTM - Holiday Magic. This festive stamp set includes 18 images for $17.95 (OR just $5 with a $50 or more CTMH purchase!) and it is available for a limited time (during October 2011 only)! Here is a view of all of the images included in this set:

Next, I have a another "Tree" card that features the Believe paper pack X7145B. This one is standard size and inspired by the Wishes Greetings Card Workshop - Card 2 (p. 112). To create the tree I used "stamp rolling" technique, by inking the tree in Sweet Leaf ink first, then "rolling" the outside edges with Topiary ink.

Lastly, here's another simple standard size card inspired by the Wishes Greetings Card Workshop - Card 4 (p. 113). I've used the Believe papers again, and the "Star" was super easy to make. I simply stamped the white surface of a Dimensional Elements Star Z1680 with the leaf stamp from this set and Desert Sand ink to make it look like a giant snowflake inside the star. Then I used my piercing tool to poke a hole through the center for my sparkley brad. The "Celebrate the Season" sentiment comes from the Glory to God D1483 stamp set (p. 83).

Now you can continue on with the rest of our Blog Hop to see many more beautiful creations using the "Holiday Magic" stamp set
by visiting Teresa's Blog next! Enjoy!!

Consultant Team Swap Cards!! (from July 23rd meeting)

So I've just starting hosting a brand-new monthly swap for members of my consultant team! Our first "virtual" swap card was due to me in July, and I am happy that I am finally ready to post and share all of these beautiful creations! My card for this swap (above) is a standard size card (5.5" x 4.25"). The stamp sets I used include 3 different stamp sets - Happy Clusters C1471 (p. 93), Love Life D1482 (p. 29), and A Typeface (August promotion). Cardstock colors I used are Olive, Smokey Plum, and White Daisy. Ink colors used are Bamboo, Black, Desert Sand sponging, and Smokey Plum. I cut the star out using our NEW Cricut Art Phiilosophy cartridge!!! The catalog doesn't include a red line around this image on p. 93, so I wasn't sure if it would be compatible, but discovered that the "Star" image cut at 2-3/4" size worked perfectly!! I am thinking that A LOT more of our images will work with this cartridge than are shown in the Idea Book - you just have to experiment and try different things until you find the right size to cut them!!!

I'm including the swap guidelines that I gave to my team (below) so you can read the specific challenge I gave them for creating this time. I am hopeful that next month a lot more of my team members will be able to participate along with us! Now please ENJOY all of these fun, creative cards made by some of my wonderfully-talented team members and friends (the Friends Forever Stampers Team)!

(visit PaulainPS.blogspot.com for details)

Cardstock: Sunset, cocoa, desert sand, olive; Stamps: You & Me, August SOTM Wicked, Hodgepodge Alphabet; plus: mocha opaques, and chocolate buttons threaded with raffia. (no blog to link to yet).

(visit NikkaGeers.blogspot.com for details)

(visit GracefulCardmakers.blogspot.com for details)

Heart 2 Heart challenge #10 - scrapbooking!

Yaay!! - this layout helped me make the top 5 this week (6/18/10):

This weeks H2H10 challenge was simple - do some scrapbooking - yaay, I am always up for that!! Remember, you can click on my photos to see the images up close if you want to (Can you spot the stamp "kissing" technique I used?!) These 12x12 pages were created with the following CTMH supplies:

• Splendor Level 2 paper packet X7124B
• Hot Diggity stamps C1407
• Intrinsic Backgrounds stamps D1334 (to do the "kissing" technique on my creatures)
• Posterboard Alphabet stamps E1014 (for my title stamped on B&T and cut out)
• Save the Date stamps D1386 (to stamp "July 2008" sentiment)
• Pizzazz Irresistibles die-cut chipboard (Z1307)
• Splendor Designer Brads (Z1317)
• Antiqued Copper Brads and Bitty Brads (z1217 Metal Brad assortment)
• Chocolate grosgrain ribbon and a little chocolate cardstock
• Chocolate, Goldrush, Moonstruck, and Topiary inks
• Timber Brown Staz-On ink Z1142 (for stamping "Hot Diggity" on chipboard)

My layout design was inspired by Cherish - Interesting Variation (p. 54). For a photo tutorial that shows you how to create the "Crescent Moon Paper flower" that I added to the 2nd page, just click HERE to go to my blog posting that is dated May 22nd, 2010. Hope you enjoy!